Blades of Fire

Blades of Fire provides an unmissable experience with a fantastic crafting gimmick alongside brutal combat. A Story that's simple to get into with easily digestible lore to dive into. Some fantastic enemy designs, fun bosses, and some great no hand holding exploration. I implore everyone to not miss this game during these busy months in the world of video games.

Blades of Fire is a promising game, especially for a new IP. MercurySteam has laid an excellent foundation, picking and choosing the best elements from other action RPGs and combining them with new ideas to create this engaging amalgamation. The world is fleshed out and a delight to discover, and the combat is the perfect balance of challenging and rewarding. The story of Blades of Fire needed more time and attention, but it served as a fine enough vessel to propel me through the delightfully dark world.

It’s ambitious, can be occasionally ambiguous, but Blades of Fire is relentlessly original and delivers a fantasy world unlike anything else you've experienced. Blades of Fire is a glorious oddity.

With fun, challenging combat and a fantastic weapon-forging system, Blades of Fire is one of 2025’s most surprising videogames for all the right reasons.

Blades of Fire is one of the most ambitious Spanish games of recent times and an action-packed offering worthy of applause for bringing a sense of renewal to a crowded gaming genre. With a combat system directly tied to role-playing elements and exploration, this title will captivate the most discerning action RPG fans.

Blades of Fire has definitely won us over: MercurySteam's work easily holds its own against more renowned teams and graphics engines, offering a pleasant and exciting gaming experience - except for the occasional flaw - in what is not "the usual souls-like" but a game with interesting and exclusive ideas and at the same time a vast and intriguing development. A real surprise in a gaming landscape increasingly full of sequels and "more of the same".

Blades of Fire is an excellent Soulslike that boasts a unique and cohesive blacksmithing theme throughout with visceral combat and plenty of secrets to uncover. Its more frustrating moments are hurdles that you'll gladly overcome for more of its sweet weapons-based action.

In the end, Blades of Fire is an intriguing blend of old-school charm and modern design, like a game forged out of time. Its deep combat and weapon forging shine, even as its 3D Metroidvania structure occasionally falters. Backtracking and vague direction can frustrate, but the game’s heart and ambition stand out, especially with plenty of secrets to uncover in its sprawling dark fantasy world.

Take God of War, Dark Souls and Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, put them in a blender along with some new elements such as being able to craft weapons and target specific body parts, and you have Blades of Fire. Its map design can be devious at times, and its enemy placement a little questionable, but overall it's an engaging, and rather epic, adventure.

Blades of Fire might not revolutionize the genre, but it doesn’t need to. What it offers is a polished, confident, and deeply satisfying action experience grounded in clear design principles and executed with purpose. By drawing inspiration from giants of the genre and combining those ideas into a streamlined, compelling whole, MercurySteam has crafted a surprise that deserves attention. Whether you come for the satisfying weapon crafting, the intense yet accessible combat, or the story of rebellion and divine legacy, Blades of Fire delivers a memorable journey. It’s not bloated, it's not pretentious, it’s just good game design, executed with passion.

Perhaps mislabeled as a Soulslike, Blades of Fire is a third-person fantasy action game with RPG elements. Its combat is exemplary. Finding the right weapon and the right place to strike each enemy is a well-thought-out system that feels great. While story is a bit bland, it’s told through an impressive blend of cinematic cutscenes, and a cryptic info drip. I loved the amount of detail in the environments. Like its title, Blades of Fire suffers from aspects that are kind of generic. The visual design and musical score emulate Hollywood fantasy to a fault, and the gameplay is excellent. Fans of action RPGs can safely ignore the Souslike label and enjoy this very accessible game.

Blades of Fire doesn't try to reinvent the Souls-like wheel, but it does add some new aspects to it. With a unique weapon crafting mechanic and varied combat system, it's only let down is the unfairness of combat itself. Still, it tells a good story through its leads, one that does entertain throughout.

A satisfyingly good action-adventure with a fun combat system, sleek graphics, and enticing world design. The atmosphere is right, but the narrative struggles to get going.

An action adventure that inherits mechanics from God of War, For Honor and Souls, a surprise for May 2025.

PS5 - appearances—for those who seek in video games not just entertainment, but a chance to journey through, understand, and, in a way, forge themselves. Imperfect and a bit rough around the edges at first glance, yet incredibly solid and deep, MercurySteam’s latest project is further proof that you don’t need a massive budget to create something truly special.

Blades of Fire gives us a fascinating approach to action adventure, using ingredients from Action RPG and souls like within a huge world, to give a mixture with a unique flavor. Its spectacular and addictive battle system, combined with the enormous possibilities of the forging system, make Blades of Fire one of Mercury Steam's best works to date, despite its rough edges.

Blades of Fire is a very good game, blending tough action RPG combat with a fun and unique weapon forging. The story is a little by the numbers and exploration does have a lot of back and forth, but the different regions and enemies look great and the narrative is elevated by Aran and Adso's relationship.

Blades of Fire isn’t for everyone, and that’s fine. Losing your best weapon only to be transported right back to the beginning of a segment with only degraded and broken remaining weapons can be a truly painful experience, but if you persevere and push on, you’ll soon discover that Blades of Fire is a real gem. Its original focus on weapon building is refreshing, and there’s something about it that feels modern and yet so distinctly old-school. Blades of Fire is challenging and punishing, it’s true, but as Taylor Swift once said, “Nothing safe is worth the drive.” Prevail through the peril, and Blades of Fire will reward you.

MercurySteam follow up the career high point of Metroid Dread with a dark fantasy soulslike full of neat ideas. Blades of Fire dares to make the case for weapon degradation being a good thing and succeeds. The fun characters, secret-stuffed level design, and terrific combat don’t hurt either. A really pleasant surprise.

Blades of Fire manages to feel original, lovable, and born of genuine passion, despite the near overwhelming number of problems that could have extinguished it.

I've never felt such an urge to try out different types of weapons as in Blades of Fire. If a game manages to lure someone as stoically pig-headed as me out of their sword-and-shield-comfort zone, it definitely did something right. Which brings us back to the beginning: I didn't know what Blade of Fire was until very recently, and I can’t be the only one. Pretty sure that’s about to change drastically.

Blades of Fire delivers good 3rd-person-action with entertaining combat and cool weapons, beautiful graphics and great world design worth exploring. It's not the best combat-focused action-adventure you can get, but a good one fans of the genre should play.

It’s not an unmissable classic, but it’s a game I’d recommend to those who love the genre. I’d also like to mention that while I was playing the game, I kept thinking how great this combat system would be in new God of War games.

Blades of Fire had the potential to be one of the best action-adventure games in recent memory if it had stuck to its unique ideas instead of borrowing from others. Its gameplay mechanics are some of the freshest and most exciting we've seen in years, bringing a much-needed burst of creativity. However, the story, characters, and level design feel uninspired and rely too much on familiar tropes, offering little that feels new or engaging. This imbalance leaves the game exciting to play but disappointing to experience as a whole.

Blades of Fire is far from a masterpiece; it has graphical and technical weaknesses, with occasional noticeable shortcomings. However, thanks to smart gameplay decisions, masterfully crafted mechanics, and creative details, it manages to make you overlook most of these flaws. If only the development team had a bigger budget, these well-designed mechanics could have been backed by the same level of technical polish. Still, Blades of Fire succeeds in thoroughly pleasing fans of the genre—even surprising them at times. Despite its imperfections, it absolutely deserves to be played and given a chance.

Blades of Fire is a bit of a wasted opportunity in the management of the game resources and in the way it alternates excellent ideas, such as the entire management of the forge and its combat system, which are accompanied by equally less successful things, the management of exploration, the confused and fast narration and anonymous characters. The possibility and freedom of fun is not denied, but often, when you enter into full synergy with the entire grammar of the game, something arrives promptly that clashes with everything else, something put there without context, some poorly considered choice, all in a world that is excellently realized, but generally dull.

Blades of Fire is a well-made package focusing more on crafting creativity than physical battles. It forces players to take a more thoughtful approach instead of prioritizing fast-paced action.

Overcoming an uninteresting and confusing beginning to the game, as well as flawed level design at times, can be a big challenge here. In any case, there is a lot of interesting stuff in Blades of Fire and an originality that needs to be highlighted in the combat and weapon creation system, even though the game is otherwise heavily inspired by other works.

Blades of Fire combines and enriches the Soulslike and RPG formulas with some new ideas and mechanics that are both welcome and frustrating. While the game looks great and diverse, the gameplay doesn't always work out as well.

Blades of Fire stands out with its unique sword-based combat and surprisingly deep forging system.

All in all, Blades of Fire is a remarkable action RPG, and it executes its themes, combat, and presentation in a balanced, synergistic manner. While it hammers out its best aspects with force and confidence, it unfortunately suffers from pacing issues that hold back its endearing, attractive plot. Despite its stunning presentation and sophisticated location design, the adventure’s scale feels a bit too long for its own good sometimes. Nevertheless, if RPGamers seek fiery and engaging combat, well-designed progression systems, and an exquisitely crafted world, Blades of Fire offers an experience players will want to brush up their smithing skills for.

Blades of Fire has some elements that feel original and compelling, but it ultimately falls short of the bar set by other AA adventure games of recent years.

Blades of Fire left us with a bittersweet taste in our mouths. It's a title that does many things right and has some interesting ideas, but it also stumbles with each of its successes. We loved its weapon forging system and it's by far the best part of the game. The combat system can be a bit clunky, but it works well, is challenging and well-designed, and the scenarios are full of secrets that encourage exploration. However, its story and characters aren't engaging in the slightest, there are certain situations that can be somewhat frustrating for the wrong reasons, the backtracking isn't very well balanced, and there are too many moments that make us go around in circles that don't add anything. All in all, if you're looking for a demanding action-adventure with its own ideas and you don't think its flaws will dampen your enjoyment too much, here you'll find an entertaining and very complete production that might be worth checking out.

Blades of Fire is a great return to the genre for MercurySteam. With great exploration and a unique combat system, Blades of Fire should have been a sure hit. Unfortunately, the situations you encounter feel completely unfair, and the mechanics sometimes work completely against you. Even still, Blades of Fire is a fun game that harkens back to the old school action-adventure titles, where exploring its world reaps the best rewards and game experience.

At its best, this blacksmith action adventure endears with great characters, engrossing action, and retro simplicity. Attempts to chase industry trends often hold it back.

Blades of Fire is a well-made and lengthy action adventure romp that will test your combat skills, provided you can see it through. Taking inspiration from some of gaming's greatest hits, it never quite manages to reach those lofty heights itself, let down by a generic setting and lacklustre art direction. Still, it offers some interesting concepts, with combat and crafting mechanics that remain satisfying throughout.

While Blades of Fire brings its own unique twist to the action RPG genre and manages to be entertaining, there is still room for improvement. Its main concept—weapon forging—needs a more intuitive execution, along with some gameplay adjustments. That said, it remains an interesting title, featuring a deeper story than it initially suggests and a methodical combat system that punishes mistakes.

Blades of Fire is a fun action-adventure game that boasts its unique features well but unintentionally shows off its many flaws.

Blades of Fire offers some compelling and exciting ideas, particularly with its reverence for weaponcrafting and rewarding forge mechanics. But its love of steel and violence can only take it so far; its combat is enjoyable at first, but wears out its welcome across a lengthy campaign that is filled with too-chatty characters and a world that’s very frustrating to get lost in. Even with those caveats, its eye-catching fantasy world and weapons that pack a punch still have enough charm to see it through. Not every one of its big swings lands, but as they say, “you miss all the shots you don’t take”, and Blades of Fire at least gives the action RPG genre a solid crack with a unique point of view.

An action-adventure that is guilty of a lot of naivety and tries to do too much, without really concluding anything. Too bad, because the potential was all there.

Blades of Fire is a pretty decent, average game. It looks good graphically and works just as well. Unfortunately, it can be irritating and even boring at times.

Medieval swordplay plays a big role in Blades of Fire, where combat is the strongest part of the game.

Good ideas hindered by poor execution keep Blades of Fire from being the sharpest tool in the shed.

A flawed but interesting attempt at a mash-up of everything from God Of War to Dark Souls, but where crafting weapons is often more fulfilling than using them.

I cannot gel with Blades of Fire. Whilst the combat feels decent, the smithing and weapon durability make for a complicated marriage. Weapons seem to break just often enough and the rinse and repeat grated on me. Locations are packed with enemies and some dungeons can be difficult to navigate through. I think Adso and Aran's relationship is very forced and, whilst they do flesh out the world effectively, the combat banter feels a little out of place. Over the course of a long journey, all these niggles add up.

Blades of Fire is built on a foundation of genuinely inventive concepts—melding the intricate weapon‑forging mechanics you’d expect from a crafting system with the punishing combat loops of a Soulslike. Unfortunately, these ambitions never fully come to fruition: the crafting and upgrade systems feel under‑polished, the balance between exploration and combat is uneven, and the result is a jarring disruption to the game’s intended flow. What could have been a seamless fusion of strategic forging and relentless challenge instead sputters, leaving the pacing disjointed and the overall experience less satisfying than it ought to be.

Blades of Fire has two faces – at first the game irritates with nearly every little thing, but after a while the pieces seem to fit quite nicely. I wanted to discover new mechanics (that were extremely poorly explained) and really get to know the game. But that does not change the fact, that it is tiresome and demands frequent breaks.

Artificial difficulty spikes and needlessly obtuse level design can lead to a lot of unnecessary frustration, and that frustration can quickly overshadow the game's greatest strengths. Blades of Fire had all the right materials in front of it, but it forged an uneven blade that keeps accidentally wounding its wielder.

Blades of Fire presents some good ideas, especially in its strategic combat and forging system. However, the attempt to offer a 3D Metroidvania experience ends up being compromised by combats positioned in inappropriate places, making the experience frustrating and resulting in a game well below what we've seen previously from MercurySteam.

I consider myself a MercurySteam fan, and even after gleefully closing the game when I saw credits (and deciding the lengthy, extended final quest for the true ending was not for me), I remain a fan. Blades of Fire feels a bit like the developer’s attempt at bringing something new to what has now become the overpopulated Souls-inspired genre. It was unsuccessful in this instance, but some of its ideas around combat and the world it created are exciting. They just couldn’t overcome the parts that made me want to give up on the game.

Blades of Fire brings a fresh combat system and addictive weapon crafting, but its unconvincing story and poorly designed levels with excessive backtracking wear players down. At 60 hours, it's far too long for what it offers, with technical issues adding to the frustration—but its colorful visual style and engaging combat might still appeal to Action RPG fans.

Blades of Fire’s blacksmithing burns bright, but it doesn’t forge a sharp enough edge to put its customizable weapons to good use. The combat is serviceable but overly simplistic, and the mediocre story often failed to evoke any kind of emotion in me at all, positive or negative, as it just goes through the motions from start to finish. The unintuitive map also frequently left me running in circles, making what could have been a fun hunt for secrets feel more like a chore. And when those pain points are compounded by unflattering comparisons to the games it so clearly took inspiration from, Blades of Fire just can’t cut it.